Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.
Waco Family Medicine Residency Program, Heart of Texas Community Health Center, Waco, TX, USA.
Psychiatry Res. 2016 May 30;239:117-21. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.02.067. Epub 2016 Mar 8.
Prior research has found that health anxiety is related to poor patient outcomes in primary care settings. Health anxiety is characterized by at least two presentations: with either severe or no/mild somatic symptoms. Preliminary data indicate that anxiety sensitivity may be important for understanding the presentation of health anxiety with severe somatic symptoms. We further examined whether the combination of health anxiety and somatic symptoms was related to anxiety sensitivity. Participants were adults presenting for treatment at a community health center (N=538). As predicted, the interactive effect between health anxiety and somatic symptoms was associated with anxiety sensitivity cognitive concerns. Health anxiety shared a stronger association with anxiety sensitivity cognitive concerns when coupled with severe, relative to mild, somatic symptoms. Contrary to predictions, the interactive effect was not associated with the other dimensions of anxiety sensitivity. We discuss the potential relevancy of anxiety sensitivity cognitive concerns to the combined presentation of health anxiety and severe somatic symptoms, as well as how this dimension of anxiety sensitivity could be treated in primary care settings.
先前的研究发现，健康焦虑与初级保健环境中的患者预后不良有关。健康焦虑的特征至少有两种表现：要么是严重的躯体症状，要么是没有/轻度的躯体症状。初步数据表明，焦虑敏感性对于理解严重躯体症状的健康焦虑表现可能很重要。我们进一步研究了健康焦虑和躯体症状的组合是否与焦虑敏感性有关。参与者为在社区卫生中心就诊的成年人（N=538）。正如预测的那样，健康焦虑和躯体症状之间的交互作用与焦虑敏感性认知担忧有关。当健康焦虑与严重的躯体症状而不是轻度的躯体症状相结合时，与焦虑敏感性认知担忧的关联更强。与预测相反，这种交互作用与焦虑敏感性的其他维度无关。我们讨论了焦虑敏感性认知担忧对健康焦虑和严重躯体症状综合表现的潜在相关性，以及如何在初级保健环境中治疗焦虑敏感性的这一维度。
